Adalı: “People ask if you can pay 18 million for Agbadou. Yes, you can!”
The president of Turkish giants Beşiktaş, Serdal Adalı, has opened up about the club’s transfer strategy and addressed the growing debate around big-money moves, especially the rumored 18 million euro price tag for defender Woyo Coulibaly Agbadou. Speaking about the expectations surrounding Beşiktaş and the criticism targeting the board, Adalı delivered clear and confident messages.
According to Adalı, the question is not whether 18 million is “too much” for a player like Agbadou, but whether the transfer fits the club’s long-term plan. “They say, ‘Can you pay 18 million for Agbadou?’ Yes, you can. If the player’s profile, age, potential resale value and sporting impact all match your project, then that figure is not irrational. Modern football works with these numbers,” he underlined.
The Beşiktaş boss stressed that the club must finally step out of the comfort zone of short-term, cheap solutions and start thinking like a European powerhouse again. “If you want to build a squad that can compete for the title every season and go deep in Europe, you cannot base your strategy solely on free agents and short contracts. Sometimes you have to go strong for the right name. The key is not to spend less, but to spend right,” he said.
“Beşiktaş’s biggest problem is not just money”
Adalı also touched on the structural issues holding the club back. In his words, Beşiktaş’s biggest problem is not only the lack of resources, but the unstable planning that changes with every crisis.
“For years, this club has been trying to fix deep structural problems with band-aid transfers. You bring in a player because he is available, not because he fits your football idea. Then you sack the coach, change the system, and within six months your entire transfer strategy becomes invalid. We are trying to break this vicious circle,” he explained.
The president emphasized that the new approach is to align the scouting department, the technical staff and the financial planning. “Before, the sporting side would say ‘I want this player’, the financial side would say ‘We can’t afford him’, and we would end up somewhere in the middle with a compromise that satisfied nobody. Now we want a structure where every transfer is backed by both analysis and numbers,” Adalı added.
Beşiktaş and Cagliari at the table – what does Semih want?
Beyond the Agbadou topic, one of the most discussed situations is the ongoing negotiations between Beşiktaş and Italian club Cagliari. The talks revolve around a transfer that could directly affect the future of homegrown talent Semih.
Adalı confirmed that there are contacts between the two clubs, but underlined that the player’s own demands will be decisive. “We are talking, yes. But there is one golden rule we will not break: no player will be forced into a move he does not want. Semih’s development, happiness and career plan come first,” he stated.
According to the president, the club’s aim is not just to cash in quickly on academy products, but to create a healthy pathway. “If Semih believes that staying here one more year will help him grow, we support that. If he thinks that going abroad now will raise his level, then we sit down and find the best formula for Beşiktaş and for him. The objective is to make Beşiktaş a club where talents want to stay, not run away from,” he said.
Fans’ criticism: Paulista, the goalkeeper, and “spend some money”
In the stands and on social platforms, some supporters have voiced frustration about recent decisions, particularly about letting experienced defender Gabriel Paulista leave without a proper fee. Many argue that Beşiktaş should at least have requested a symbolic transfer income.
Adalı indirectly answered this type of criticism by pointing to the broader picture: “Sometimes you let a player go on favorable terms to clear the wage bill, to create room for new signings or to avoid keeping an unhappy player in the locker room. The transfer market is not only about the fee. It is also about timing, chemistry and the salary structure.”
One frequent complaint has been the lack of a top-level goalkeeper signing, with many fans insisting that this was the position where the club should have “broken the bank.” Adalı acknowledged the importance of the position but reminded everyone of the economic realities:
“The winter transfer window is a very tricky market. Options are limited, prices are inflated and you are operating under strict financial parameters. It’s easy to say ‘Spend more on a goalkeeper’, but if that move forces you to break the wage ceiling or jeopardize future signings, then you are solving one problem while creating three new ones.”
Financial constraints and the reality of the winter window
Adalı openly spoke about the budgetary limits. He mentioned that the club was given a certain threshold for winter spending and had to be extremely creative to even reach that level.
“The official limit you see is around 5 million, but when you structure the payments over time, with installments and bonuses, you can push that figure a bit higher, to something like 7 million in practical terms. Even then, it is not as if you have 7 million in cash sitting ready. You must think about previous debts, salaries, performance bonuses. Every euro is accounted for,” he explained.
He also pointed out that flooding the squad with winter transfers rarely leads to instant success. “January is not the time to rebuild an entire team. If you panic and bring in six or seven players just to calm people down, you destroy the wage balance and the hierarchy in the locker room. We tried to make the maximum number of smart moves within our means, not the maximum number of flashy moves,” he added.
“These refereeing standards make the title race harder”
Another area of frustration for the Beşiktaş community has been refereeing. One recent incident that sparked controversy involved İlkay, wearing the shirt of a rival side, seemingly stepping on an opponent’s foot in clear view of the referee, yet escaping even a yellow card.
Adalı, while avoiding direct confrontation, hinted at a double standard: “Everyone in this country has eyes. They see which fouls are punished and which are ignored. They see when a Beşiktaş player receives a red card for a similar challenge, and in other matches, the referee tells the opponent to ‘calm down’ and play on. As long as this inconsistency continues, whoever you bring as coach or player, the title race becomes more complicated than it should be.”
However, he also emphasized that Beşiktaş cannot base its strategy on complaining about referees. “We must be strong enough on the pitch to overcome not only our rivals, but also the mistakes around us. Our job is to reduce the margin for error to the minimum, both in transfers and in performances,” he said.
Balancing the books: “We’re not the state, but we must behave responsibly”
In a country where public finances are constantly debated, some critics compared the club’s situation to national economic policy, arguing that if even the state struggles to balance income and expenditure, it is hard to believe a football club can do it. Adalı responded to such skepticism by insisting on professional management.
“We are not a government, but we must behave as responsibly as a serious company. If you spend more than you earn every single year, there comes a point where even the biggest badge cannot protect you. Our task is to design a structure where sporting success and financial stability support each other,” he explained.
He underlined that the goal is not austerity for its own sake, but sustainable ambition. “Nobody here is proud to say, ‘We did not spend.’ We want to say, ‘We spent well, achieved results and did not mortgage the club’s future.’ If we manage that, then people might even say, jokingly or not, that someone who can fix Beşiktaş’s accounts could fix bigger economies too,” Adalı remarked.
Why 18 million for a defender can still be rational
Returning to the Agbadou debate, Adalı elaborated on the logic behind such a major investment. “You need to look at age, physical profile, adaptability, injury history and the current market. A 24–25-year-old center-back with top-level athleticism, who can play in a high defensive line and has resale potential, will not cost 5 million anymore. The market has moved,” he said.
He pointed out that many European clubs buy players in that price range and sell them later for double. “If you sign the right player for 18 million and sell him for 30 or 35 million in three years, then that initial figure becomes a smart bet. The problem is not the number itself, but whether the scouting and risk analysis behind it are solid. Our obligation is to ensure that every big signing comes with a clear plan for both performance and resale,” he added.
Building a new identity for Beşiktaş
Adalı also spoke about the need to rebuild Beşiktaş’s football identity, not only through transfers but also through coaching philosophy and academy integration. “There was a time when everyone in the league knew what kind of team Beşiktaş was: aggressive, technical, fearless, with a strong local core. In recent years, we lost that clear image,” he admitted.
His vision is to combine experienced foreign players with homegrown talents who truly understand the culture of the club. “We do not want to be a team of 11 mercenaries who will forget about the club the moment they leave the stadium. We want a mixed structure: two or three leaders with big experience, a strong block of local players and hungry young talents who can change the tempo of a match,” he explained.
Patience, expectations and the road ahead
Addressing the impatience of supporters who want instant success, Adalı asked for a realistic time frame. “Nobody is asking for five years of excuses. But if you are changing the transfer model, the wage structure and the football philosophy at the same time, you cannot expect everything to fall into place in two months. We aim to be competitive right now, but the full effect of these decisions will be seen over the next two or three seasons,” he said.
He also openly accepted that the board will be judged on results. “If in the end we fail to create a team that fights for the title, then all these words mean nothing. The only fair way to evaluate us is to look at where Beşiktaş stands at the end of the season, and how stable the club looks going into the next one,” he concluded.
Conclusion: A bold bet on the future
Serdal Adalı’s statements draw a clear picture: Beşiktaş is trying to move from reactive, short-term moves to a more ambitious and calculated strategy. Paying 18 million for a player like Agbadou, in his eyes, is not a sign of recklessness but of a club finally willing to think in terms of long-term value, provided the analysis is correct.
Between financial constraints, referee controversies, fan expectations and the pressure to win immediately, the margin for error is thin. Yet Adalı insists that only by taking measured risks, investing decisively in the right profiles and protecting the club’s economic health can Beşiktaş return to the level its history demands.